Palissy Ware

On a buying
trip in England eight years ago, we found ourselves in a dealer's shop
out in the countryside. As we took in all the wonderful furniture and
accessories, a group of ceramic plates caught our eyes. Both exotic
and repulsive (in an intriguing way) they featured snakes, salamanders,
frogs, and other animals we try to keep at arms length. Interspersed
with shells and leaves, these figures were molded in high relief and
glazed with earthen colors. The plates looked alive with motion, a microcosm
of the forest floor. We learned they were a type of French majolica
called Palissy Ware. Although we didn't buy, the name was filed for
future reference.

Several months ago at an antique show, we spotted a platter stored in
a box under a table, exposed just enough that we knew immediately it
was the same Palissy ware we had seen years ago in England. It featured
a large lobster in such high relief and so realistic it looked like
it would walk off the plate. Armed with our new purchase, the next step
was to research the history of such a bizarre type of art.

Majolica books made only passing references to Palissy Ware so we turned
to the internet for help. Within seconds we had the names, authors and
publishers of two books on Palissy Ware and the web site of an antique
dealer with several pieces accompanied with their photos and descriptions.
We e-mailed for the price of a piece very similar to ours and received
a reply quickly.

Then the folks at the Nashville Public Library‘s Interlibrary
Loan Service searched libraries across the country until they tracked
down the books and arranged for them to be sent to our nearest branch
for checkout.

In those books we found that 19th- century Palissy Ware was inspired,
not made, by the 16th -century French ceramist Bernard Palissy. A true
Renaissance man, Palissy was a writer, student of the natural sciences
and artisan. Three centuries later, Palissy’s art caught the attention
of Victorian revivalists, known for reviving such earlier styles of
decorative arts as Rococo , Renaissance , Egyptian, Greek and Gothic

Palissy’s work appealed to the Rococo Revivalists because he used
the motifs of the Louis XV’s Rococo style, which are taken from
nature, particularly the "rocaille" or shell ,and also features
leaves, flowers and other natural forms. For the Renaissance revivalists,
it was Palissy’s inteccectual study of nature that held special
interest. He was believed to have taknen actual molds of the animals
depicted in his ceramic work.

Bernard Palissy experimented for fifteen years to find the right combination
of chemicals and kiln temperature for his enamel glazes. Alas, he was
so guarded about his methods and formulas , when he died in 1590 his
secrets died with him.

It wasn‘t until about 1850 that interest in his style was rekindled.
It began in the city of Tours in central France. A local ceramist Charles-Jean
Avisseau, spurred by the Victorian interest in the Renaissance, discovered
Palissy‘s methods, through years of research and experimentation.
Avissiau single-handedly revived interest in this high relief, strictly
ornamental style of ceramics. From 1850 to 1900, the popularity of Palissy
Ware spread throughout France, England and the United States. In small
shops around Tours, whole families worked to product this time-consuming
and labor-intensive art

Today, examples of this unique ceramic and the great potter who popularized
it can be found on display in the Bernard Palissy Room of the Louvre’s
Richelieu Wing in Paris. The largest collection of Palissy Ware, however
is at the Museum of Fine Arts in Tours. We plan to visit both of these
collections on our winter buying trip to France.